From Land to Shining Sea

Oh my! The last month was busy! Before I dive into what I’ve been exploring lately, I want to first address the horrifying things happening in Ukraine right now.

War has always been horrible. There are constantly wars and conflict happening around the world and often times, we are ignorant to them. To a certain extent, we have to be. If we knew about every human suffering occurring in the world, we’d all constantly be depressed and distraught. So we focus on news and events in our more immediate surroundings. When horrible things then happen to people that easily could also be us, it hits harder and deeper.

Since I’ve become a mother, my emotions are on steroids. I love harder, I grieve deeper, and I empathize more intensely. Where I used to see mothers and children of the world suffering and would feel terribly saddened by it, now I see myself and my baby in the women and children being bombed in the Ukraine and fleeing for their lives and its heart wrenching. I walk a fine line between staying informed and protecting my mental health. Since I’m on a contract right now, I can’t be in Germany helping the refugees. So instead, I am supporting various humanitarian aid charities that are helping the people of Ukraine. Hopefully, you’ve been able to do the same.

The clever ways people have been helping the Ukrainian people has been proof of human ingenuity. I’ve seen people booking AirBnB’s in Ukraine with obviously no intention of staying there but rather getting financial aide directly to those Ukrainians. I’ve read about information being shared as reviews on various sites because the Russian government is censoring social media.

It is absolutely despicable that one man can cause so much trauma, heartache, death and destruction. I don’t know how, but this war needs to stop.

Coming to America

A few days after my last post, my AuPair Ally arrived from South Africa. The first few days were spent giving her some orientation and letting her adjust with the jet leg. 10 days after her arrival, my aunt and uncle visited from Germany for 10 days. Thus, the last few weekends were rather busy and I enjoyed them fully. We initially wanted to take a trip to Crater Lake. My aunt had seen a TV show discussing blue colors around the world and Crater Lake was mentioned as being particularly beautiful. It’s still winter season here in Oregon however and the road circumventing the lake is closed at this time. We had a great alternative weekend adventure instead!

Let me share some of the fun things we’ve been up to!

Spencer Butte

The second day Ally was here, our local nanny (and now good friend of ours) took us on a hike up Spencer Butte. It’s located a short drive outside of Eugene. There is a steep ascent and a gradual one. We took the steep way up. My nanny and I each packed a baby and Ally packed our two backpacks. The ascent was not a walk in the park. It had rained a bit before we started our hike, so the paths were a slightly muddy at times. There was also a bit of boulder climbing involved but it was a lot of fun and provided some amazing views. We even saw a full rainbow once at the top!

McCredie Hot Springs

On her second weekend here, Ally, my baby and I drove an hour southeast of Eugene to take a dip in the McCredie hot springs. This was Ally’s first time seeing snow! There were a few pools available. We shared one with just 4 other people. Baby loved it! They love bath time so this was a special treat.

Sweet Creek Falls

The first stop on our weekend tour with my aunt and uncle was at Sweet Creek Falls. Located about 1h15 west of Eugene and on the way to Florence, is where you’ll find the beautiful forest and water falls. The hike was easy and took us through lush greenery up along the river to the waterfalls. The water was cold but I can see myself coming back on a hot summer day and splashing around a bit.

Heceta Lighthouse & Cape Perpetua

After a short stop in Florence to visit the marina and grab lunch and coffee, we headed north up the coast. Our first stop was the look out area overlooking the coast with the Heceta Lighthouse in the background. When I was here with my mother, we discovered hundreds of sea lions hanging out directly below us. Unfortunately, none were to be found this time around. So we snapped a few pictures and headed to the Heceta Lighthouse.

The parking lot for the lighthouse is located at sea level across from a beach. To get to the lighthouse, you have to take an uphill walk past the Bed & Breakfast to the lighthouse. From the top, I was able to take some nice pictures of the coast line. The blue, green, gray and white color palette of the nature is right up my alley.

Upon our decent, we spent some time hanging out on the beach and letting baby play in the sand. Afterwards, we drove 20 minutes north and up to the Cape Perpetua Lookout. From here, we could look down on the coast line and watch as the sun started to set. We didn’t stay for the actual sunset because we still had to find a hotel for the night and cellular reception was nonexistent for us where we were. We had intended to visit Yachats as well but decided to continue north to Newport for the night.

Newport

A few miles north of Yachats, I finally had cellular service and was able to look up a motel for us. We headed to the port of Newport to grab dinner. It was already pretty late and restaurants were close to closing. Luckily, the Clearwater restaurant was open longer than the others. It is situated right on the port. The best part was truly what was happening in front of the restaurant on the marina side. The floating docks were filled with sea lions! They were the first thing we heard when we got out of the car. It was dark, so we were only able to see the ones illuminated by the dock lights. It sounded like there were hundreds more hanging out in the dark bay.

The next morning, we grabbed lunch at the Nye Beach Cafe before going on a walk along Nye Beach. The ocean seems to really ebb and flood on this beach. We found beautiful sea anemones (amenonemomne?) amongst the rocks. There are some pretty cool shops in Nye Beach. We stopped by the Blue Pig Bakery for some delicious treats. The bakery is worth visiting even if you don’t have a sweet tooth because every room, nook and cranny is filled with gifts and goodies.

After stuffing my face with a scrumptious cinnamon roll, we headed back to the port where we had been the night before. The port is lined with a lot of shops, many quite unique. We browsed, snacked, and shopped for a while before heading back to Eugene.

Svikki MD

Work has been good. The patients I see have medical issues all across the board. I’ve had a few no-shows (not uncommon for a FQHC- federally qualified health center) which allowed me to catch up on the copious amount of tasks that flood my in basket. The team I work with is really great and I enjoy my time at work.

We are already looking ahead for the remainder of the year. Usually, jobs don’t get confirmed until 2-3 months before the start date. The job I’m currently at was confirmed unusually early and I’ve don’t it again with my next assignment. I’ve also been able to negotiate a pay raise which feels really good. Anecdotally, I’ve experienced women be less direct about pay raises and negotiating. It’s definitely still a work in progress for myself as well but I definitely scored a win this round.

Starting in August, my baby, Ally and I will be headed to…. Wisconsin! Go Badgers! lol

I will be working in a town close to Milwaukee, Madison and Chicago. I’m excited to show Ally the state I grew up in and it’ll be nice to be close to so many lovely friends I have in that area. Eugene doesn’t really get any snow, so we will definitely have to prepare Ally for a Wisconsin winter. She saw her first bit of snow here in Oregon but I’m going to blow her mind with a legitimate snow storm in Wisconsin should we have one this year.

So, to all my Wisconsinites, I look forward to seeing you and introducing my baby to you later this year!

mfg